OXFORD INTERNATIONAL MODEL UNITED NATIONS

10TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2ND 4TH NOVEMBER 2012

CHAIRING: HOW TO WRITE A STUDY GUIDE

STRUCTURE OF THIS DOCUMENT

This document provides an outline of the style and format of the study guides expected from chairs at OxIMUN 2012. Please aim to follow this guide wherever possible.

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CONTENTS
Topic A: - Introduction .......................... pg -Topic History ......................... pg -Discussion of the Problem ... pg -The Future .............................. pg -Points Resolutions Should Address ........................ pg -Bloc Positions ......................... pg -Further Reading ..................... pg -Bibliography............................ pg Topic B: -Introduction............................ pg -Topic History ......................... pg -Discussion of the Problem ... pg -The Future .............................. pg -Points Resolutions Should Address ........................ pg -Bloc Positions ......................... pg -Further Reading ..................... pg -Bibliography............................ pg Committee Director: Name Email address Assistant Directors: Name Email address Name Email Address Name Email Address

[COMITTEE NAME]
Topic A: Topic B:

A Message from your Directors:

Dear Delegates,

This should be a brief address to your delegates, introducing yourselves and the committee. You should also include your expectations for the committee and any other information that you want your delegates to know before they come to the conference. Dont forget to be enthusiastic!

Director Assistant Director 1 Assistant Director 2

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TOPIC A: SOLVING
THE

GLOBAL STUDY GUIDE

EPIDEMIC
Enter the introduction here. name of the topic significance for specific countries, the region, continents or the world some impressive facts (i.e.: number of casualties, affected people)

no longer than 2 pages (NOT columns, but full pages, which applies to all of the page estimates)

You may also want to include a brief history of your specific committee, so that the delegates know what to expect when debating within that committees framework. When you put this in, place it in as a sub-heading:

what countries, NGOs, other organisation and global actors have been involved; what have the United Nations done so far; success and failures of measures taken so far; has the problem spread or diminished over the course of its history

[History of the Committee]

Also, dont forget to add pictures! Try to have at least 1 picture for every two pages. For images, they work best if you put them at the top/bottom of columns. If you have trouble with this formatting, send me the images in an email, detailing where they are to go and Ill format this. To put a picture in, follow this format.

More general topics should try to name conflicts, natural disasters, humanitarian catastrophes which fall within the range of the topic; try at this stage if you have a more theoretical topic to add some specific events to help delegates making the connection between the abstract problems to real life events they might have heard of in the news. At the end of this section each delegate should have an overview of what has been going on in the topic area, many poorly prepared MUNs fail at this point as delegates start to debate historic facts instead of trying to find solutions to the present conflict, hence try to be as clear about the historic facts as possible, what you write in this section is prerequisite for the debate. this section should require some additional research on your part, it is worthwhile to do this properly for nothing is more embarrassing for a chair than a delegate who knows significantly more about the history of the topic

TOPIC HISTORY
Sub-heading 1
Enter the History of the Problem here. a written timeline of the conflict (try to make it interesting) when did it first occur what actors have been involved;

Not more than 4 pages

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Sub-heading 2
Remember to add sub-headings!! relations between the different subtopics, solutions are often designed to tackle those causal relations in order to break out of the vicious cycle.

Sub-heading 3, etc

DISCUSSION OF THE PROBLEM

Sub-heading 1: The issue itself:
This is where it gets challenging. Most international conflicts are the result of a complicated mixture of different grass root factors. (e.g.: HIV/AIDS in Africa: USA and European pharmaceutical industry unwilling to open patents, missing logistics to distribute medicine to patients, Aids kills the young people, young people are the potential agents of economic recovery, countries remain poor, social circumstances increase the infection rate of HIV/AIDS, poor countries have a low level of formal education, without formal education people remain unaware of the real causes and dangers of HIV/AIDS, certain religious practices and tribal culture adds to the spread of HIV/AIDS, fighting HIV/AIDS versus preserving the indigenous culture, governments are unstable and short-lived, development of coherent long term strategies against HIV/AIDS is impossible under changing government and civil war, etc.) In this section try to explain the grass root causes for the main problem; while you should discuss each factor individually for reasons of clarity, try at the same time to shed light on the causal

Sub-heading 2: Political Obstacles

In this section you should also make some reference to the national interest of the main actors, and how they might hinder the resolution of the conflict/problem. A brief overview over the interest involved and the potential impacts on world order is a essential for delegates to develop a first understanding of their countries positions. As such you can and should make reference to individual countries and their known policies. Many topics are contingent upon the implementation of previous resolutions or treaties. Shed light on the relevant treaties, show the connection to the topic under discussion and clarify in what ways its implementation is hindered by previous failures to comply or carry out UN resolutions. Under no circumstance should you however turn your own topic into a debate over the implementation of previous resolution. Their sole purpose is to set the scene for the discussion and hint at existing problems, which should be addressed. The quality of this section will have a major impact on the course of the debate during the simulation. The more topics you raise the more problems the
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delegates have to accommodate when try to negotiate a resolution, hence try to research carefully to identify all the important underlying problems.

Brevity is the soul of wit, hence try to keep it concise! Not more than 8 pages! Sub-heading 2
Remember, break this section up into numerous sub-headings!! This will prevent the document from looking too overwhelming!

problem/what they would be looking for in a resolution. This should be brief (you dont want to write their position papers for them!). How you put countries into blocs depends on the topic if you are talking about a problem specific to one country, you should probably give that country its own little section. So, heres an example: The UK and other EU Nations Latin American Nations Etc. Or you can place them into blocs according to how they are involved in the problem: Nations which are directly involved Nations which are not involved Nations suffering from (enter problem) Again, this should be brief, but it can be immensely helpful to both you and your delegates in making sure the delegates are roughly in-line with their actual diplomatic stance.

Sub-heading 3, etc

THE FUTURE
Sub-heading 1
Promising initiatives New technologies which could assist solving the problem Factors which are expected to worsen the situation Cooperation

Not more than 4 Pages

Sub-heading 2

BLOC POSITIONS
This section is optional, but it can be very helpful to your delegates if you include it. For this section, you should go through most of the diplomatic blocs and how they would view the

POINTS RESOLUTIONS SHOULD ADDRESS

Enter the Points that Resolutions Should Address here. This section should quickly summarize what the main focus of the debate should
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be. Do not give a precise description of the contents of the resolution you expect, instead try to give the debate a general direction.

1 Page
Usually, this is done in bullet-point format. Point 1 Point 2 Point 3, etc.

not to say that you cant use Wikipedia to get a general introduction to the topic, but you should be using more academic (e.g. books, journal articles, etc.) to get your information.

Thats one topic down! Now on to topic B!

TOPIC

B:

SOLVING

THE

GLOBAL STUDY SHORTAGE

GUIDE

FURTHER READING
Enter Further Reading here. Please provide a list of sources for further reading. Try to find a balance of online sources, books and articles in newspapers. If you have the time, write one or two sentences to each source specifying the focus of the source. Usually, this is done in bullet-point format. Point 1 Point 2 Point 3, etc

Follow the same structure, in full, for topic B, including the headings and subheadings.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Everyone should know how to write a bibliography by now! One point: please dont cite Wikipedia here. We want to make things look professional! Thats
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